1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process and a system for selectable data transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the state of the art, data that are present on a network, e.g. data stored on a network server, are often accessed from a terminal, e.g. from a computer of a user. Thus, a user can, for example, use a terminal in order to retrieve E-mail messages that are stored on an E-mail server. In the state of the art, various processes are known for the transmission of data between a server and a terminal. Processes are known that are particularly suitable for transmitting E-mail messages or current headlines. Processes are known for transmitting multimedia data, such as audio data or video data, from a network server to a terminal. Such processes can be based, for example, on protocols such as POP (Post Office protocol), IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), SMB (Server Message Block) or any other kind of protocol.
Before data are transmitted, a check can be made on whether a user is entitled to access the corresponding data. Before E-mail messages are accessed, or before an audio file is downloaded, for example, the identity of a user is checked, by means of a user name and a password, for example, or, in other words, authentication is carried out. Such authentication can also be based, for example, on the creation of a secured data connection, such as a VPN connection (VPN: Virtual Private Network). After the check on the identity of the user, corresponding data are transmitted to the terminal of the user, whereupon the data are available to the user on this terminal.
Depending on the nature of the data, however, and depending on the nature of the terminal, it can be problematic for the user to access the data. Special software may be required, for example, in order to access the data. Or it may be necessary for the terminal to possess specific features, such as a particularly powerful processor, a particularly high-resolution screen, particular input devices, such as a precise mouse or a joystick, or any other kind of input/output devices, in order to display or represent the data on the terminal. A user often possesses various terminals, e.g. a terminal at home, a mobile terminal, or a terminal at the workplace, whereby these terminals often also display different features in regard to network bandwidth, processor performance or screen resolution. After the user has carried out authentication with a terminal and is thus entitled to transmit specific data to the terminal, such as E-mail messages or video data, it would often be convenient for the user to select a particular terminal in order to transmit the data to that terminal. Thus, it can be convenient that an E-mail message with a video file is better transmitted to the terminal at home or that an E-mail message with a presentation is better transmitted to the terminal at the workplace. In order to carry out such a transmission of the data in the state of the art, the user must carry out authentication with the appropriate terminal and then initiate the transmission of the data to the terminal. In the state of the art, data are downloaded by the user to the same terminal on which the representation of the data also takes place.
In the state of the art, for the reasons mentioned, the transmission of data from a server to a terminal of a user, for example, suffers from various disadvantages. A user could, of course, initially download data to a terminal on which the user is working at the time, and then retransmit the data to a preferred terminal. Such a transmission is complicated, however, and is not feasible at all under some circumstances, for example, because of a lack of capacity of the network interface of the terminal, such as, for example, the capacity of the network interface of a mobile terminal. Without additional authentication mechanisms, moreover, the data transmitted to the preferred terminal could easily be looked at by a third party who was using that terminal at the time.
The document WO 2005/020541 discloses a method for the secure transfer of content from a content server to a content consumer. A content requestor sends instructions so that a content access code is transmitted to the content consumer. On the basis of the content access code, a request is sent by the content server for the encryption of content and for the downloading of the encrypted content to the content server.
The document WO 01/11883 discloses a method for the safe circulation of content. A content provider provides content to a service provider. The service provider provides the content to at least one content consumer. A confidence-based relationship can exist between the content provider and the service provider, as well as between the service provider and at least one content consumer, so that the content is protected both during transmission and during reception within a broadcast or multicast network.